“The real thing I struggle with is other people’s perceptions”: the experiences of autistic performing arts professionals and attitudes of performing arts employers in the UK
Open accessAbstract
This research examined in-depth the employment experiences of autistic performing arts professionals and the attitudes and adjustments of performing arts employers. We interviewed 18 autistic performing arts professionals and 19 performing arts employers. Autistic performing arts professionals described facing challenges in the workplace. Some autistic professionals had access to support, but the majority felt that there was not enough available and highlighted many ways in which they could be better supported. Performing arts employers varied in their experiences of working with autistic people, many had limited knowledge about autism-specific support or relied on other professionals to provide it. These findings shed light on current unmet support needs of autistic performing arts professionals, and provide key recommendations for research and practice.
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Regular check-ins may clarify expectations.
“Regular check-ins may further clarify expectations (Buckley et al., 2021)”
From The system-level organisational design framework: a neuro-cognitive trait interaction approach to workplace inclusion for autistic people (2026) · cites this paper as Buckley et al., 2021
The Results describe a director checking in with an autistic professional about sensory conditions and how exercises were going, and employers advocating frank conversations about support needs. They do not say that check-ins were regular or that they clarified expectations. No page numbers were supplied for these passages. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredResearch in the UK indicates that even when adjustments are agreed upon, they are often delayed or inconsistently implemented.
“For example, research in the UK indicates that even when adjustments are agreed upon, they are often delayed [31] or inconsistently implemented [39].”
From Autistic adults’ views and experiences of requesting and receiving workplace adjustments in the UK (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
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- Authors
- Buckley, E., Pellicano, E., & Remington, A.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Macquarie University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Buckley, Eleanor
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2020-04-30
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 45-59
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- PMC
- PMC7810631
- OpenAlex
- W3023240124
- Cited by
- 49
- References
- 66
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 6.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council
- Rada-in-Business
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Education and Employment
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, employer perceptions, workplace support, work experience, workplace accommodations, unmet support needs
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Art, Attitude, Autistic Disorder, Drama, Employment, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Perception, Workplace, Professional Role, Young Adult
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